Lismore Castle

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Lismore Castle is a castle located in the County Waterford town of Lismore in the Republic of Ireland.

It was owned by Sir Walter Raleigh, then by Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork, and by his descendants up to another Richard Boyle, 4th Earl of Cork & 3rd Earl of Burlington (earlier creation), who was a noted influence on Georgian architecture (and known in architectural histories as the Earl of Burlington or as Lord Burlington). Robert Boyle The Father of Modern Chemistry, a son of the 1st Earl's fifteen children, was born in Lismore Castle in 1627.

When Burlington's younger and only surviving daughter (and thus his heiress), Lady Charlotte Boyle (1731-1754) suo jure Baroness Clifford, married William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, the owner of Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall in Derbyshire, the Castle came into the possession of the Dukes of Devonshire, along with other Boyle properties (Chiswick House, Burlington House, Bolton Abbey and Londesborough Hall).

The earldom of Burlington was recreated for Lord George Cavendish, a younger son of the 4th Duke and Lady Charlotte Boyle, Baroness Clifford. It was his grandson the 2nd Earl of Burlington who succeeded his first cousin once removed, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, as the 7th Duke. Fortunately, the 7th Duke had been married to the 6th Duke's niece Lady Blanche Howard, a daughter of the 6th Earl of Carlisle. They were parents of the 8th Duke of Devonshire, a prominent politician, and the assassinated Lord Frederick Cavendish.

Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene at Lismore.^{[citation needed]}

Lismore Castle is still owned by the Duke of Devonshire, but it is used for only a short part of the year. Chatsworth House is the main family seat and the home of the Dowager Duchess. The 12th Duke, who succeeded to the title in 2004, continues to live primarily on the Bolton Abbey estate. For most of the year Lismore is available to rent by groups of up to twenty-three visitors, who live in the family apartments and are waited on by the family's staff.

In 2004 The Robert Boyle Science Room was opened nearby in the Lismore Heritage Centre dedicated to his life and works where students have the opportunity of studying science and participating in scientific experiments.

Fred Astaire's sister Adele lived in the castle after marrying the Lord Charles Cavendish, a son of the then Duke and, after his death in 1944, continued to use the castle until shortly before her death in 1981.